July 12, 2006 – Defying the Bush administration, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to allow consumers to purchase drugs from Canada. The move is one of the few consumer friendly bills to pass through the Senate this year and could result in substantial financial benefits to many Americans. The House of Representatives has already passed similar legislation, but there are still two obstacles that must be overcome before the bill can become law.

The Senate vote appears to be a slap-down of Bush administration policies. By a margin of 68 to 32, Senators from both parties marshaled more than enough votes to override any presidential veto.

The bill comes in response to a crack down on consumers who are attempting to import cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries. Beginning in November of last year, US Customs agents began to seize prescription orders that were being mailed into the United States. Likewise, they began confiscating prescriptions from other countries that were being brought in by American citizens.

The actions by Customs outraged a number of different consumer groups. Especially hard hit were senior citizens covered by Medicare. Although the administration has not admitted it, the timing of the crack down was more than suspect. It began just as Medicare Part D – the prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients – began to accept enrollments.

Many people on Medicare have found that the cost of enrolling in Medicare Part D is actually higher than importing drugs from foreign pharmacies. This fact alone has caused a lot of people to become politically active on the matter. It’s apparent that their Congressional Representatives and Senators have heard their cries.

The new law would specifically forbid Customs Agents from seizing individual consumer prescriptions. The law would apply both to mail order shipments and to those who physically cross the border.

There are still a couple of obstacles that must be overcome prior to the bill becoming law. First, the Senate and the House of Representatives must work out compromise language. The House version of the bill would allow consumers to import drugs from any foreign point of origin. The Senate version specifically limits imports to those originating in Canada. While this may seem like a trivial matter, it may prove to be more difficult to address that most people would think.

The second hurdle is the potential for a presidential veto. Both the House and the Senate would need a 2/3 majority to override the President. At present, the votes appear to favor consumers but in an actual vote, the numbers may be too close to call.

The Bush Administration has been against importation of drugs from other countries, favoring instead Medicare Part D. The claim has been that the government can’t insure the safety of drugs that come into the United States from other point of origin.

But many consumer groups and health insurance companies have been quick to point out that many of the drugs that consumers have been importing were actually manufactured here in the United States. They also point out that Americans are forced to pay more for their prescription drugs that the citizens of virtually any other country in the world.

It should also be pointed out that the high price of drugs sold in American pharmacies is largely subsidized by tax payers and those who purchase health insurance. That’s because the cost of high priced drugs is paid for with tax dollars (in the case of Medicare) and higher insurance premiums for those who are lucky enough to be able to afford health insurance.

It should be noted that other countries negotiate bulk purchasing agreements with pharmaceutical companies. This allows them to keep their prices down. In the United States, the mess that Congress is trying to correct through this new law was actually created by them when they voted for Medicare Part D. That legislation contained specific language that forbids the US Government from negotiating bulk purchasing agreements for pharmaceuticals. That language was included with the approval of the President.

As for the claims of safety problems with drugs from Canada, at ACCESS we believe these are overblown. We challenge anyone from the Bush administration to show us all the dead Canadians.

by Jim Malmberg

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